AuthorTopic: Paul..and the level of musicianship of the Beatles (Read 2736 times)

nimrod

I mentioned that guitar solo on Taxman in the microscope thread, I think I understated my feelings about it.........as a guitarist myself Im gonna say its bordering on genius, especially when the same guy writes things like Blackbird and Here There and Everywhere

millions of good lead guitarists could not have come up with that, its gobsmacking really.

especially when you consider the fella could play drums and piano as well. I wonder if Paul ever got frustrated with the level of musicianship of the others?

OK John was a genius, but of idea's and songwriting, not really musicianship.

paul always fancied himself as the lead guitar player in the beatles,probably where all the arguments with george comes from.i always thought paul was perfectly passable on the kit.it's when compared to ringos' feel that it sticks out a lot,and like todd says,that probably goes for the lead playing too-although i think the guy is a very,very under-rated guitar player.i love his guitar work,personally.

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nimrod

Yes, I always thought it was ironic that Paul (the most musically talented) got relegated to the bass (and in those days it was relegation).......as you might expect though, he made the bass his own and became superb on it, one of the very best.Im sure he mustve felt stiffled though over the years and ended up becoming THE pianist in the group, IMO he is a very good lead guitar player, just listen to Maybe Im Amazed for confirmation.

Yes, I always thought it was ironic that Paul (the most musically talented) got relegated to the bass (and in those days it was relegation)...

Yes, but..., why was he relegated to the bass?? Because he had no instrument by those days (=Lennon had his Rick, Harrison had his Futurama, Best had his Premier kit, but McCartney had not his Rosetti Solid 7 yet). So, the choice was obvious when Sutcliffe decided to be no more a Beatle...

On the one occasion in the Quarrymen days when Paul was given the role of lead guitarist, he messed up completely. George became the lead guitarist after that, with John and Paul supplying rhythms. When they had to choose who was going to be the bass player, it was pretty obvious that Paul was the first choice. George was the lead guitarist and John had the biggest mouth. In the end, it wasn't a bad choice after all.

"...None of us wanted to be the bass player...It wasn't the #1 job: we wanted to be up front. In our minds, it was the fat guy in the group who nearly always played the bass, and he stood at the back. None of us wanted that; we wanted to be up front singing, looking good, to pull the birds...Stu said he was going to stay in Hamburg. He'd met a girl and was going to stay there with her and paint... So it was like, Uh-oh, we haven't got a bass player. And everyone sort of turned 'round and looked at me. I was a bit lumbered with it, really it was like, 'Well ... it'd better be you then'. I dont think you would have caught John doing it; he would have said: 'No, you're kidding. I've got a nice new Rickenbacker!'. I was playing piano and didn't even have a guitar at the time, so I couldn't really say that I wanted to be a guitarist. Thet'd say, 'Well get a guitar then, that might be a start'..."

Yes, I always thought it was ironic that Paul (the most musically talented) got relegated to the bass (and in those days it was relegation).......as you might expect though, he made the bass his own and became superb on it, one of the very best.Im sure he mustve felt stiffled though over the years and ended up becoming THE pianist in the group, IMO he is a very good lead guitar player, just listen to Maybe Im Amazed for confirmation.

good quote,nimrod.maybe i'm amazed is one of my best paul tracks.even after all of these years of listening,the piano fade-up intro never fails to get my hairs standing on end.everything about that track is great-especially the lead part.as we go through the beatles albums in tkitnas' thread,we'll find out how many lead guitar parts were played by paul and not george.it's quite surprising,isn't it?

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......."but tonight,i just wanna stay in,and be with you"..............